It's His Own Battle
by Atherin
Summary: What if Lucy never got her healing cordial? Would Edmund still have survived the Battle of Beruna? Everyone has accepted that Edmund isn't going to make it, but Peter isn't about to let his little brother slip away again. Rated T for Blood and Violence.


Edmund plunged into battle without second thought. The Witch had broken through the phoenix's ring of fire and Peter would now need all the help he could get. Like him, the other soldiers that were waiting dormant ran to the battle like wildfire. The red tunics of Narnians mixing interestingly with the bland dark colors of the Fell creatures.

The archers continued to stay hidden in the rocks, carefully firing at the Fell creatures so as to not accidently kill their allies.

No sooner than Edmund stepped foot into battle, a minotaur bellowed at him and came charging towards him with a heavy looking axe. Edmund gasped slightly in surprise and lifted his sword to protect his neck as the minotaur swung his axe for his head. There was a deafening clang and the blow was parried, but the impact sent vibrations through Edmund's arm.

Edmund backed up quickly to regain his composure before the second attack came, this time aiming for his legs. Edmund jumped over the massive weapon as Peter had earlier showed him how to do, then moved behind the Minotaur and slashed his sword across its back.

The Minotaur grunted in surprise and staggered back a bit, but swung around and smashed the blunt part of his axe into Edmund's ribcage, winding him. Edmund winced as he felt something inside of him crack loudly, and the minotaur seemed to hear it too as his bull like face wore a smug expression.

Blinking water out of his eyes Edmund ground his teeth then stood upright and swung his sword at the creature's neck, hoping to end the fight quickly, but the bull creature blocked the attack and mockingly bashed his axe against his chest, flipping him into the ground.

Edmund pressed a hand into his painful side, crying out softly as the impact of the ground made the pain flare. Looking upwards he saw the Minotaur charging towards him, axe raised to embed in his body. Thinking quickly Edmund rolled out of reach even though it was torture to do so, then scrabbled to his feet.

The Minotaur however kept coming at him and Edmund barely raised his sword in time to defend himself from the death blow.

He groaned with the effort of keeping the axe away from his body, though he knew by keeping his sword up and against he left himself exposed, but if he moved his sword he would surely be butchered instantly. He was stuck.

The Minotaur was the first to give in, and he released one hand from the axe in order to send his fist straight into Edmund's ribcage. Edmund yelled out sharply and he was certain that one of them was definitely broken by now. He wavered foolishly as the pain lit a fire in his chest, and the Minotaur took advantage of this and began pushing down on him with his axe again.

Edmund struggled to keep his sword steady, but he was quickly growing exhausted; his strength was weak compared to the Minotaur's, who exceeded him in size and bulk. Edmund was about to give up and let the bull claim his life when an arrow from one of the Narnian archers whizzed by and impaled itself in the Minotaur's neck.

The Minotaur gave a pitiful shriek then keeled over, dead almost instantly. Edmund mouthed a quick 'thanks!' to the archer, who nodded and returned to shooting.

Completely knackered, Edmund slid towards the ground quickly to catch a moment's rest before Peter's voice rang clearly across the battlefield.

"Edmund!" His brother shouted to him, and Edmund looked up curiously at him.

"There's too many of them! Get the girls, and get them home!" He ordered, before turning around and clashing his sword against an attacking Fell creature.

Edmund opened his mouth to protest, but Beaver ran towards the boy and grabbed his sleeve, steering him away from the battle. Edmund blindly followed, but he stopped abruptly on the hill and glanced back. Beaver stumbled slightly as the boy stopped, and looked up at him, not seeing what he was.

"Peter said get out of here?" He said in a confused tone, but Edmund suddenly shook himself free.

"Peter's not king yet!" He shouted determinedly, and before Beaver could stop him Edmund took off down the hill.

He saw the Witches' dwarf standing in his way, and without thought he swiped in his direction, missing his throat but managing to cut his tangled beard. The dwarf gave a surprised shout and fell from the mountain, landing flat on his back. Edmund would have laughed, but he didn't have time to.

What he saw was the White Witch, advancing on Peter while his back was turned. Edmund watched, horrified as she prepared her wand to turn him to stone.

Edmund didn't hesitate. With her wand in clear sights, Edmund leaped down from his spot and raised his sword above his head, ready to bring it down on her wand. The Witch however, turned around and to his dismay she pulled back just in time to avoid his sword. Edmund paused and looked at her with a horrified expression, before he quickly swung his sword at her.

The Witch blocked his blow, but Edmund manoeuvred his sword around hers and he swung his arm, knocking her sword away from her. Turning quickly as she instead brought her wand towards him to permanently freeze him, Edmund quickly brought his sword down on the icy crystal.

The Witch's wand shattered in a brilliant burst of blue, sending crystalline shard flying in all directions. Edmund smirked as her wand lost its ominous glow.

Edmund was momentarily distracted by the blue pulse when he saw his brother whirl around with a confused expression, which quickly turned into horror. Edmund was confused by his horror when the Witch came back to his attention, her sword swinging towards his head.

Edmund quickly clashed his sword against hers and pushed upwards at an angle, keeping it away from him, but then he realized his fatal mistake.

With a clear opening, the Witch drove her wand forward, its sharp and jagged end gleaming threateningly before it drove deeply inside of Edmund's stomach.

"EDMUND!" Peter screamed as he witnessed this, but Edmund barely heard this, his mind only had one thing in focus—Pain-

Edmund groaned weakly as the Witch gave him a smug look of triumph, twisting her wand inside of his body until the long jagged end exited from his back. Then she harshly jerked her wand backwards, and Edmund felt the long point break off inside of him.

Edmund inhaled and exhaled slowly, then crashed to the ground with a loud moan, his hand moving to the hole in his body. As he found the hole, he felt the icy crystal sticking out of him and he wrapped his hand around it, but quickly let go as it caused him unbearable pain.

He struggled to draw air into his, lungs but each breath was excruciating and he was left making small hiccup like gasps. Through his fading vision he saw Peter fighting the Witch, and in between the black that was starting to tunnel around his eyes, he saw his brother drop to the ground after a heavy blow.

The world began spinning uncontrollably and Edmund weakly dug his hands into the grass, trying to roll onto his back as being on his side was practically unbearable at the moment. He struggled to get a view of his brother but his vision continued to spin, and it scared him. He didn't want to die, but he would he realized if it made up for his mistakes.

A pained yell from Peter brought him out of his thinking, and he tried to call out to his brother to see if he was okay, but the only sound could muster was a small whimper.

The darkness that rimmed his eyes was starting to fully take over his vision, and Edmund gritted his teeth and made his final act to roll onto his back.

Like he predicted, the already agonizing pain doubled suddenly and Edmund couldn't help but scream, but as the pressure was removed from his wounds he did start to feel better, but a scary numbness was starting to leech through his body and mind, and he was having trouble focusing on anything.

He struggled to cling on to his slipping life, but as the numbness slowly became cold he was losing hope. The last thing he heard was a lion's roar and the thud of a body hitting the ground close to him before his eyes rolled back slightly as he blacked out.


End file.
